Rise of the Sentinels pt1
by redmon77
Summary: the first installment of the first part of me and Skyguy's trilogy. please R


**Chapter one**

I opened my eyes and peered around; the trees and bushes surrounding me seemed to have always been tended to as they were cut into intricate shapes and designs. The flowers looked beautiful and I felt their aroma reach my nose; their scents a mix of sweet and bland. The grass I lay on was soft and it felt good when I changed my position so that I lay on my back. The sun was up but thankfully there was a tree over me and shrouding me in shade.

I looked to my left and saw a couple brightly colored song birds singing and bathing in a stone birdbath. I smiled and looked to my right and saw some rabbits jumping around and playing. I chuckled lightly and looked up at the sky, noticing how there wasn't a cloud in the sky. It was peaceful; the birds chirping, the wind blowing the trees and making the rustling sound, all together making a melody that only nature could provide. I felt myself slowly falling asleep…

I bolted into an upright position.

"what am I doing here?" I said to myself, my heartbeat going ninety-to-nothing. I surveyed my surroundings again and confirmed that I WAS in fact in a garden of some kind. I knew there had to be buildings nearby…and I was right. upon treading through the foliage I found myself standing before a magnificent castle.

"you have GOT to be kidding me." I mumbled as I slowly approached the stone steps that led to one of the castle's small doors. "HALT!" shouted a loud voice above me. I looked up and saw what looked to be a knight dressed in golden armor holding a spear with the tip pointed at me. "state your business!" he ordered.

"i…i…uh…" I stammered as two guards approached from in front of me.

"who are you?" asked one of the two new-comers, also pointing spears at me.

"im…im…" I stammered, keeping my eyes on the tip of the spears which were only inches from my face.

"take him to the princess!" barked the guard up top. "this is a restricted area. Nopony is allowed in without MY permission!" then he disappeared from my view.

"but wait, I-" I was cut off by a steely glare from one of the guards as they surrounded me and began to walk me into the castle.

The guards led me down vast hallways that seemed to go on as far as my eyes could see. At one point I turned to one of the guards and asked, "so where are we-"

"silence!" shouted one of the guards, giving me a cold glare which silenced me.

"we are taking you to the princess." Said one of the guards in a deep voice.

"a Princess, wow! I must be in some serious troub-"

"SILENCE!" barked a guard.

We walked past many rooms but as we past one room I noticed that there were a bunch of ponies dressed in formal attire, all of which minding themselves.

_Hhmmm, must be a party_, I thought. One pony stood out from the others, though. He was an earth pony with no fancy clothing on at all. As I saw him her turned and looked at me with bright amber eyes that held a mixture of fear, joy, and familiarity. As the guards ushered me along I began to notice that there were hoofsteps coming from behind us. Not the familiar clanking sound by the guards' boots on the cool marble, but a simple clop of bare hooves following us. I didn't fully understand it yet but I knew it was that earth pony.

We rounded some corners and soon came to a set of large doors. One guard stepped past me and pushed the door open and we all walked into a very large room. The room had cool marble flooring and huge stone supports along the walls, probably just for decoration. There was a long red carpet that led to a throne at the top of some steps, and sitting in the throne was a majestic alicorn. Her mane had a sort of natural flow to it as it proceeded to flow even with the lack of wind in the large room.

"princess, we have found an intruder!" barked the guard next to me. they led me down the red carpet, which felt very soft might I add, and made me stop in front of the alicorn who looked down at me with gentle eyes.

"yes? Who is this Ironsmith?" the princess' voice was smooth and calming; almost making me forget how much trouble I was in.

The guard named Ironsmith shoved me forward.

"who are you, young colt?" the princess lowered her head until we were at eye level with each other.

"I…I'm…" I tried to think but my mind just wouldn't give me the info I needed.

"what's your name, trespasser?" barked Ironsmith.

"i…." I tried, sitting down in front of the princess and feeling a sense of sorrow. I didn't even know my own name! what kind of loser doesn't even know his own name?

"ANSWER H-"princess Celestia silenced her guard with a raised hoof.

"calm down, Ironsmith. You take your job far too seriously. Though I have to understand your suspicion." She looked at me with the most impressive poker face. "a mysterious pony whose name we don't know, found in the restricted gardens, wont give us a name. I don't know about you but I find that rather suspicious."

"what should we do with him? Trash detail? Community service?" he looked at me with bitter disgust. "rainbow duty?"

Celestia shot him a menacing glare at his last words that I didn't think her capable of. Ironsmith didn't flinch.

"look, I'm not-"I tried to say but was cut off.

"oh there you are!" we all turned to see the red earth pony trotting in.

"Skyguy?" the princess blinked, her face returning to its beautiful self again. "what are you doing here?"

"oh, I was looking for my friend, and here he is! What are you doing here? the party's three halls down!" the pony spoke in a cheerful tone with a layer of hint to what he was saying. I was supposed to follow along.

"yeah, sorry." I said, rubbing the back of my neck with a hoof. "felt kinda tired and must've wandered into the restricted gar-"

"is he with you Skyguy?" Ironsmith asked, cutting me off.

"yeah…"he looked at me for a second, a calculating look in his eye. "…Red had signed up for the training program and I brought him here as a graduation gift. He must've gotten separated from me when I went to the party without checking to see if he was following me."

I looked at the princess expectantly, her poker face returning. I had to give her props. With that good a poker face I had no clue what she was thinking or feeling. After what seemed like forever she spoke up.

"ok, I trust you Skyguy. If you say…Red…is a friend, then I believe you."

"ok, thank you princess, I'll just take Red and get out of your mane." He gave a wacky smile, grabbed me by the arm, and led me out of the room.

"hey tha-"

"shh, not now. Not until we are out of earshot of the guards." Skyguy hissed without looking back as he maneuvered us through the halls. I just huffed once and proceeded to follow him without another word. I found it rather irritating that nopony would allow me to finish a sentence in this freaking castle.

We rounded a few more corners and soon I found myself standing outside in front of a very, VERY, big blimp. It had what looked like a cat-walk along the topper portion of the balloon. It was light grey and I could see huge thrusters in the back when I craned my head to the right. the mechanical beast seemed to take up the ENTIRE landing pad, which was quite large.

"you comin or not?" Skyguy asked from a small doorway a couple hooves down the side of the craft.

"oh." My eyes flicked in that direction as I trotted up to the door and stepped inside. I was surprised to find that the room we were in was just the size of a normal house. In comparison to the rest of the ship we were in a closet.

"ok, so…" Skyguy said after he clapped his hooves together and examining a control panel. I walked until I sat in the center of the room. The floor had steel panels that were cool to the touch, the walls were curved outwards with little circular windows placed every few hooves. The ceiling was similar to the floor. The lights however were just small spotlights in each corner of the room. I saw that to the right of the control panel in front of Skyguy was a door leading to a cat-walk in front of the ship, which was clearly visible due to the giant window in front of the controls.

Skyguy flipped a few switches and pressed a few buttons and I was thrown into the far left wall as the blimp took off.

"GYAH" I yelled upon impacting with the wall.

"what?" Skyguy turned and looked at me with an innocent smile.

"that hurt!" I exclaimed as I rubbed the sore spot on the back of my head.

"well that's probably because you hit my wall." Skyguy said nonchalantly as he turned his attention back to the controls.

"why am I even here with you? I don't even know you all that well." I said and instantly stopped. "I just finished a sentence…I just FINISHED A SENTENCE!" I exclaimed, practically bouncing with excitement.

"yay…" Skyguy muttered with feign enthusiasm as he continued pressing buttons. I got over my verbal victory and straightened up.

"thanks…" I said, completely serious.

Skyguy didn't take his focus away from the controls, but one of his ears flicked in my direction.

I took this as my chance to continue. "thanks for getting me out of that bind. Im sorry I snapped at ya."

He nodded.

"no really, who knows what they would have done with me." I pushed.

"I doubt they would have done anything that bad." Skyguy flipped a switch and immediately pressed a button, all the while carrying on a conversation with me.

"well…I guess you're right. I mean, Ironsmith mentioned trash detail and I guess that and community service wouldn't be all that bad. Don't know about rainbow duty though. Aren't pegasi the only ponies that can walk on clouds?"

The instant I said "rainbow duty" both of Skyguy's ears flicked in my direction. He even stopped with the controls momentarily before continuing to pilot the ship.

"what?" I asked, my curiosity showing.

"nothing. Just ignore the comment Ironsmith made and be thankful." Skyguy muttered bitterly. I detected a hint of hatred and disgust in his voice, so I decided not to push the topic any further.

After a few minutes of deafening silence I decided to look out of one of the windows. Outside I saw a breath-taking view of a city…made of clouds! Skyguy mustve heard me gasp in awe because he was suddenly standing next to me, looking out the window next to mine.

"beautiful isn't it?"

I gazed down at the normal clouds being pushed out into the sky by large steel vents in the side of the large factory that seemed to take up most of the floating city.

"yeah…" I said quietly. "are there more cities like this?" I turned to face Skyguy.

"yes. All over equestrian actually." He gave me a small smile. "thankfully somepony decided to show a little ingenuity, right?" he moved away from the window and held out a hoof. "I think we need to get properly acquainted. I'm Skyguy."

I shook his hoof.

"I'm…" I stopped. I had no idea what my own name was. "uhm…" I scratched my head in wonder.

"so you don't even know your own name, huh?"

I paused for a moment, waiting for a memory, any memory, to rise up from the depths of my mind and give me a hint as to who I was.

Nothing…

"im drawing a blank." I said nonchalantly, hoping that my false calmness masked my growing despair.

"well, you seemed to accept 'Red'." Skyguy said, though it seemed as if he were saying it to himself as he scratched his head.

"wha-wha-wha-wait… there is no way in heaven I'm gonna be simply called 'Red'." I said, waving my hooves in the air to dismiss the idea.

"well, of course." Skyguy said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "that would be like a nickname. We need to come up with something 'Red' can be short for."

"Redford?" I tested, not to sure and hoping he had a better idea.

He pondered some more. one of the spotlights on the far wall across from us lit up, giving the illusion that a bulb lit up above his head. "I got it! Redmon!"

I thought about it. "Redmon…Redmon…" I said, feeling it roll off my tongue. "I like it!" I smiled brightly at him.

"now we need to give you a last name…" he continued to think. "how about 'Frosty'?"

"how about 'no'?" I said, mimicking his falsely innocent tone.

We stared at each other for about a minute before Skyguy said, "Frosts."

"yes."

"it's good, right?"

"very."

"I'm glad you like it."

"thanks for suggesting it."

"you're welcome."

"hey."

"yeah?"

"who's piloting the ship?"

Skyguy turned around.

**Chapter two**

Derpy had been given a simple task: take the letter to the royal engineer, don't open the letter, and most importantly: DON'T SCREW UP!

She had done good so far, managing to avoid colliding with heavy rain clouds on her way to the castle, but she knew it was a matter of time. She always screwed up on important deliveries. She didn't know why she was such a screw up, but she did know that ponies respected her for her determination.

The sun was bright and it felt good on her back as she soared through the sky. The sun warmed her wings and Derpy felt herself relax under the sun's warming rays. She decided to fly upside down in attempt to warm the rest of her body, only to lose all the mail in her satchel.

"aahh! No!" she screamed as she dove straight down in order to gather her lost inventory. She caught multiple letters and envelopes but still many descended towards earth.

_boss is gonna fire me for sure!_ derpy thought madly as she dove towards earth, only to slow down before hitting the ground and landing…somewhat gracefully and unharmed…the same couldn't be said for the mailbox though.

She looked around and saw the cottage

_Fluttershy! Maybe she can help!_

Derpy approached the door but was surprised when it opened before she could reach for the doorknob. Fluttershy stepped out and stifled a shriek, instantly calming down once she realized it was only Derpy. "oh Derpy, you startled me." Fluttershy said in a half whisper, as was her normal tone, and gave Derpy a sweet smile.

That was what Derpy loved about Fluttershy the most; she was always so kind to her, no matter how much she screwed up. Fluttershy always treated her as a friend, not an accident-prone imbecile. She's surprised Fluttershy even wanted to be her friend after Derpy fell through her roof last month and broke her table.

"I'm really sorry, flutters. It's just that I lost my mail and need to get it delivered and if I don't then I'll get fired!" Derpy practically yelled, then immediately fel sad for yelling at her friend, which instantly changed to surprise when she saw that Fluttershy was just smiling.

"I understand."

Derpy smiled gratefully and nodded.

"I was actually on my way to find you." She produced a hoof-full of envelopes. "these flew in through my window."

Derpy's eyes widened and she hugged Fluttershy. when she pulled away Fluttershy noticed tears in Derpy's eyes.

"oh, Derpy, what's the matter?" Fluttershy's maternal instinct kicking in.

"it's just…it's just…." Derpy couldn't finish her sentence because her tears kept making her pause.

Fluttershy gave her a soft hug and Derpy returned it. when the parted Fluttershy handed the mail over to Derpy and said, "this one letter looks really important. Why dont you deliver these and come back to me later; I'll bake a batch of those muffins you love so much."

Derpy's eyes widened and she wiped the tears away. "thank you…" Derpy then took the mail and took off after putting the mail in her satchel, zipping it up properly, and giving her trusted (and probably only) friend.

….

Derpy had been flying for about twenty minutes now, feeling the warmth on her back as she continued flying, not daring to perform her last stunt a second time that day. She had pondered who this "Skyguy" was. The name made him sound like he was a Pegasus, but the boss told her that he was an earth pony. He constantly referred to him as the "Royal Engineer".

_He must be really important_, Derpy thought as she flew through a cloud, sending vapor flying. _I mean, anypony with "Royal" in their title _must _be important, right?_

/_\ \

/ _/_

/ /_ \ \

\_/_/

Derpy had spent the next thirty minutes pondering what it would be like if she became the Royal Mail Pony. Everypony would respect her automatically and she wouldn't have to worry about ponies making fun of her…and she'd earn enough money to buy her daughter the things she wants.

Derpy felt a tear run down her cheek before being blown away by the wind.

"dinky…" Derpy began, fully sobbing at this point. "…I'm sorry…im sorry im not the best moth-"

That was all she remembered saying before blacking out.

**Chapter three**

Skyguy had decided to show me how the controls work after seeing me stare at his finesse on the panel for little over half an hour.

"this is the torque control. I use this to ensure that I don't gun it to every spot and lose my fuel so quickly." He pointed to a lever.

"this," he hovered a hoof over a red button. "this is the emergency EVAC button. Automatically jettisons everything in cargo bay into the sky."

I made a mental not never to tick him off while im in cargo.

"and this beauty over here…"he trotted over to a black bubble with green lines on it sitting atop a pedestal. "…is the trans-dem-radar. I know when we're not the only ones in the sky.

"does it work?" I asked.

"of course it works!" he said happily, leaning on the pedestal and grinning at me. "it is absolutely, positively, 100%-" **_THUNK!_** "-still in the developmental stages of production."

We both looked at the window to see a grey Pegasus with a blonde mane pressed flat against the window, obviously unconscious.

"DERPY!" Skyguy yelled, nearly blowing out my eardrums, and started pulling levers and pressing buttons to slow the ship down. as he was doing this, however, a little orb of light appeared out of nowhere and started circling Skyguy. It was really small, about the size of an apple, and for some reason I felt protected by it, like it would keep me safe.

The light floated from Skyguy on over to where I was sitting. It floated around my head and for some reason it stopped right next to my right eye. It disappeared and I immediately saw a door on the far side of the room, which I assumed, led to the catwalk. Wasting no time I ran over to the door and opened it, then stepped out.

The wind tore at my face and made my mane fly wildly in the air. Thankfully Skyguy was slowing the ship down because it was getting easier and easier to walk on the catwalk as I approached the front of the ship. Once I managed to get around the slight curve and stop in front of the main window I saw Skyguy working at the controls tirelessly. I tapped on the window, drawing his attention to me.

"HI!" I said, waving my hoof left and right rapidly with a stupid smile on my face.

I could have fallen off the ship's catwalk because I was laughing so hard! Sky was looking at me at first, then looked around the inside of the ship, then back to me. his eyes were wide and one of them was twitching. He yelled, "HOW!" so loud that I heard it through the six-inch glass between us.

I heard a groan from beside me and I turned to see that the Pegasus had fallen off the glass and was now ebbing towards the edge of the catwalk!

"oh no!" I hollered as I ran over to her now that the ship was barely moving. She was just about to fall when suddenly the satchel, which was bound tightly under her wing, became covered at the seam…with…ice. A small amount of frost had formed and it kept her bound to the ship's catwalk, preventing her from falling to her death.

_Weird_, I thought.

No wanting to push God's patience today I quickly scooped her up and lay her on my back before heading back inside. Once I closed the door behind me I saw Skyguy reading a letter that was pressed up against the outside of the window, but it was at an angle so that's how he was reading it.

"uhm, Sky-"

He held up a hoof for silence, and about a ten seconds later he turned to me. "yeah?"

"the mare!" I said, referring to my cargo.

"oh!" he shouted, coming to my aide.

Derpy woke up and found herself in some sort of metal room. She saw that the tiles on the floor were made of steel and she questioned why it felt so soft. She looked down and realized that she was lying on two pillows laying side-by-side, a blanket lain over her.

"but that would imply that I use hair products. I don't, no matter what others say. I hate how it makes me feel, like my hair is made of plastic or something'." Said one stallion.

"yeah. Wait…how did we get from the properties of brass to hair products?" came a slightly younger voice, but definitely a stallion's.

Derpy turned her head and saw two stallions standing next to a control panel. The one on the right having a red coat with brown hair. The other having a peculiar pale blue coat with a flame-like mane consisting of two different light shades of blue. His eyes had an almost….shine to them as she gazed into the bright blue irises, even if they weren't directed at her.

In a flash his eyes were looking into hers and she saw him sigh with relief. "Thank God she's ok." They both trotted over to her and examine her.

"no cut, no broken bones, no scrapes, Derpy you magnificent mare you've managed to come out of another situation almost completely unharmed! Accept for a slight concussion" she recognized Skyguy's gentle eyes immediately and knew that she was in friendly company. She even let out a breath that she didn't even know she was holding.

Derpy gave a light chuckle. "yeah. I guess I'm almost unstoppable." She faked a cheery attitude.

"hi, I'm Redmon Frosts." Said the blue stallion, obviously glad to see her.

"I'm…Derpy…" Derpy looked away, already preparing herself for the laughter and ridicule, but it never came.

"Derpy…Derpy…" he said it slowly. "cute name!" he said with a genuine smile.

"uh….thanks?" Derpy said, not sure if she should accept that as a compliment. She stood up and immediately fell. Only to be caught by Redmon.

"whoa! Easy now! You don't want all that blood rushing to your head at once now. Best to rest up." Redmon said in a soft and soothing voice, slowly helping her lay back down. she was starting to feel dizzy but at the same time she felt safe around him…something about his eyes that made her feel as if he would protect her….

"Ponyville…the friendliest place in all of equestria." Said Skyguy proudly, his chin held high. We had landed near Ponyville and parked the blimp in a large field. And when I say "IN" I mean the ground opened up and we landed in a freaking underground bunker.

The bunker was kind of what I expected; huge flood lights hanging from the ceiling illuminated the entire room surrounding us. the skeletons and Frankenstein's of vehicles, mostly planes, lay scattered throughout the massive underground room. I took note of all the broken machines, unfinished projects, and other devices that were all lined up. In my head I imagined this as some sort of ingenious attempt at organization; when he finishes with one project he simply picks up his tools and moves on to the next one.

Simple, yet effective.

We came to a stop in front of an elevator, similar to the ones in those fancy hotels that are controlled by bell-hops. We got in and Skyguy pushed the lever forwards, causing the elevator to roar to life and start going up. As we ascended it became harder and harder to seen in the dim light. I felt a soft body press itself against mine and a female voice say, "oh, sorry…" the body moved away from me.

"I don't mind." I said just as quietly as Derpy did. there was a moment of silence and I soon felt the body against mine again. I smiled and felt my cheeks flush, silently thanking god that neither Skyguy nor Derpy could see me blushing. I looked up and saw level after level pass us by, occasionally hitting us with a quick line of light.

"so…where are we going?" I asked casually.

"well…I am going to fix up the room you will be staying in. in the meantime, why don't you and Derpy head into town, you know, to meet the locals?"

"sure thing, if Derpy is ok with that." I turned to Derpy. My eyes were getting used to the scarcity of light, so I could just barely make out her shape. Was she wearing…glasses? No…Goggles? I turned to Skyguy and saw the same thing. What the-

"AAAHHH!" I screamed, closing my eyes and shielding my face with my hooves. The door had opened and I guess my eyes were too used to the darkness. I lowered myself to the ground and stay there.

"whoa! Why didn't you put on the goggles?" Skyguy asked, sounding amazed at my apparent stupidity.

"what goggles?" I asked, almost shouting.

"the goggles on the tray by the door." Derpy answered innocently.

"what tray?" I bolted upright and collided with something above me. I collapsed to the ground, clutching my sore head.

"that tray." Skyguy and Derpy said in unison.

I got up and tried to glare at them, but I only saw colorful dots blocking my vision. I did my best to locate them and glare.

"over her." Skyguy said, a hint of amusement in his voice. I heard a giggle and assumed that it was Derpy. I gave a sigh and said, "well…I guess I cant go into town with you then, eh?" I tried to feign disappointment, but found it hard to do considering that I actually WAS disappointed.

"actually…" her tone was offering and sympathetic. "here." I felt a wing rest itself on my back, which made a shiver run down my spine. I heard a giggle and assumed that my reaction was visible. at least Skyguy was mature enough to-

"Redmon and Derpy, sittin' in a tree. K-I-S-S-I-N-G."

_Thought too soon…_

Ok, I'd like to leave it off with that last joke. I need to have this viewed and edited by my friend/editor/producer/executive producer/GIMP genius/etc. I promise to have some action in the next installment (both fighting and romance.) and also if you have any questions please talk to either me or Skyguy on .com.

Sentinel out.

~77~


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